6 Discussing boundaries
by RedAndBlond
Summary: the sixth... maybe the last, tell me if you want me to continue ; : Chakotay's making some trouble, B'Elanna's and Seven's friendship deepen and Kathryn and Seven discuss the boundaries of their relationship, or rather: who should be aware of it.


Title: discussing boundaries Author: Savé.

Fandom: ST:VOY Pairing: J/7

Rating: NC-17 Story number: 6/?

Disclaimers:-The usual: no copyright infringement intended, characters belong to Paramount, bla bla bla, …

-My undying respect for Jeri Ryan and Kate Mulgrew 

-Please don't copy or post without my authorisation (I like to know where my stories hang out ;) )

-Feedback please 

-Story contains women in love, if you don't like that, than what the hell are you doing here? I have disclaimers on my homepage! Get out! If you're under age or if this kind of stuff is forbidden where you live, make sure nobody else sees this ;)

-A huge bucket of thanks to my loyal beta-reader Fieke thanks for sticking with me 

Discussing boundaries

"Regeneration cycle complete"

The computer announces. I step off of my alcove.

"Computer, begin recording personal log of Seven of Nine."

"Recording started."

"The repairs have ended, the ship's efficiency is in acceptable parameters again. Today I will be working in engineering. Lt. Torres is acting in a more friendly manner towards me. Though I had not anticipated it, it is… nice. When our duty shifts are over, Kathryn and I will go to Kathryn's quarters. I find myself… anticipating this evening. Computer, end recording of personal log."

"Recording ended."

I travel upwards to main engineering and when I arrive, LT. Torres calls out to me.

"Hey, Seven! Good to see you. Come over here!"

She has never greeted me in this way and I find myself apprehensive as I walk towards her.

"You've got a message from the Captain. Here you go."

She steps away from the console and turns on her work. As I open the document, a smile shows on my face. It is from _Kathryn_!

Love, I'm looking forward to this evening:

I can't seem to think about anything else

but you today. And the past few days. And

the days before that. I just can't think of

anything else but you ever since you

stepped on this ship and in my life, who am

I kidding? I just wanted you to know, I think.

Love, Kathryn.

I chuckle softly and Lt. Torres looks at me as if I've just lost all of my implants.

"Seven, did you just... laugh?"

The engineering crew who have been working around me all stare at me and I feel a blush creep to my cheeks. I send a command to my nanoprobes immediately to counteract it and I am relieved when it disappears. Lt. Torres comes to me and whispers conspirally in my ear.

"Being in love certainly agrees with you!"

I flush again but it is not as pronounced as the former time. I go through the Doctor's lessons in my mind to find an appropriate response.

"Thank you."

She grins at me.

"I really didn't give you a chance, did I? I'm actually starting to like you!"

"I… like you too, Lt. Torres."

She holds up her hand as to stop me from speaking further.

"Call me B'Elanna, please."

I give her a shy smile and she grins fully at me.

"Now, how about we start working, Borg?"

She swats me playfully on my arm and it is intriguing to notice she used the word 'Borg' in a friendly manner.

"I will come to work with you in a few minutes, first I have to send a reply."

She grins again.

"I totally understand."

I softly shake my head with a small smile on my face as I send my reply to Kathryn.

Kathryn, I, too have been thinking about

you constantly ever since I came aboard

Voyager. I am looking forward to the end

of our duty shifts.

I love you,

Annika.

With a small smile I set to work with B'Elanna. I am inputting calculations to improve the efficiency of the warp core when suddenly I hear an, unfortunately, familiar voice behind me.

"Leave Kathryn alone."

I look over my shoulder, raising my eyebrow.

"Commander?"

"You heard me. You're the only reason she isn't with me. Leave… her… alone."

He says, the volume of his sentences increasing towards the end. I open my mouth to reply he should talk to Kathryn, that way he would realise there's nothing she sees in him, when I am beaten to it by someone else.

"Chakotay! First of all, this isn't the sort of thing you should be discussing on duty. Secondly, You just don't discuss this in the middle of engineering, with half of my crew able to eavesdrop on your conversation. Then there's still the fact that you have nothing to say about the Captain's private life, do you understand?"

B'Elanna hisses vehemently in his face. Chakotay merely stares at her with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Get out of here. Now!"

B'Elanna says in a threatening low voice, while stepping even closer in his personal space. Chakotay opens his mouth as if to reply, but then just turns around and flees out of the area, away from the angry half-Klingon. Obviously the wisest choice, he does have a brain… interesting. I turn to B'Elanna.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Besides, I owed you one, so…"

We smile at each other and then turn to continue our work, shrugging the incident off. Aside from B'Elanna's and mine new-found friendliness and our occasional playful banter, at which the rest from the engineering crew seems to rapidly get used to and except for the incident with Chakotay, nothing of importance has happened.

Now our duty shifts have ended and Kathryn and I are walking towards her quarters. We are not touching, but we are walking so close that I can feel the heat radiate off her body. When we enter the turbolift, we hear a shout to hold the doors and Commander Chakotay enters to stand next to us, the tension evident in is shoulders, his fists clenched and his jaw set firm. He obviously forces himself to relax once he catches me staring, and asks.

"Kathryn, could I interest you in a nice dinner in my quarters?"

I see Kathryn tense and she gently strokes the back of my hand with the tips of her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Chakotay, but I already have plans for the evening."

She says, linking our fingers together to make it perfectly clear to me just who those plans involve, while my body blocks the Commander's view of our hands. I feel a chill run down my spine at the angry fire in Chakotay's eyes and the tension that is apparent in the atmosphere of the lift makes it hard for me to breathe. Kathryn notices my unease and squeezes my hand in silent support.

When the doors finally open on deck 3, Chakotay immediately dashes out of the lift, at such a speed he might as well be running. Kathryn and I share a concerned glance, before Kathryn shrugs and says huskily:

"We're not going to let his hurt ego ruin our evening, are we?"

I shake my head.

"Good. It does concern me that he's this upset about us, but I'm not going to stop this because of him, you're too important to me. Besides, he'll get over it, eventually."

_Kathryn thinks I'm more important than the Commander's opinion! _I felt a pleasant warmth suffuse my body and a slow smile spreads on my face. Kathryn gives me such a gooey look I just want to take her in my arms and kiss her, to convey to her the love that makes my heart swell. If I did not know better, I would think she has read my mind, for she pulls me closer and softly kisses me.

The next thing I know we're walking towards her quarters at the same speed the Commander has just walked in these corridors. Then I stop thinking at all, as we are in her quarters and Kathryn is kissing me passionately. We stumble towards the bedroom while pulling and occasionally shredding our clothes off our bodies, in our impatience to get them off and feel each others skin. We barely make it to the bed, Kathryn falling on top of me, kissing a wet trail down my throat before coming back up, her breath hot in my ear as she whispers huskily

"I love you, Annika. I love you so much."

Her knee presses between my legs, bathing in my juices. I want her so much, my skin is yearning for her touch.

"Kathryn."

I moan, trying to tell her what she means to me, tell her I love her above all else, that I would do anything for her, but words do not suffice. I need not have worried, for she comes to hover above my face and murmurs against my lips

"I know."

Then she kisses me deeply, pressing her body as close to mine as possible, her tongue entering my mouth, ravaging it completely. She lets one of her hands travel down, over my breasts, my abdomen, down until her hand rests between my legs, her fingers parting the wet folds of my sex easily, spreading the moisture and circling my clit with it, before slipping inside me and filling me completely and starting a thrusting motion which my hips follow quickly.

I moan her name over and over until I am screaming it when my climax hits me. I can feel Kathryn stiffen and hear her moan loudly at her own release when it takes her with me and then we collapse, tangled into each other. I am murmuring her name over and over again, a benediction, a term of endearment, the name of my saviour the name of my love.

When we have caught our breath after our first joining, we make love for countess times more and I loose the count of my climaxes after the fourth one, when my higher brain functions seem to shut down and I can only feel, sensation, wonder and love. Sometime later, completely limp from our exertions and that put together with the many double and triple shifts we both have been pulling lately, we fall in a fitful slumber.

When I wake up again, the first thing I notice is that Kathryn is still sleeping on top of me, making tiny movements and occasionally murmuring my name in her sleep. Her hair tickles my nose and her hand is possessively thrown over my abdomen while her leg covers my hip.

The second thing I notice is that we are not alone. Commander Chakotay is standing in the door post, paralyzed, his lips pressed in a thin line on his white face. Then he seems to regain command of his limbs, blood rushing to his face until it's colour resembles Neelix's latest creation in the mess hall. He steps back so the door closes, cutting him from my vision again, fortunately, since he is not a sight to which I like to wake up. _Why was he standing in Kathryn's bedroom? What was he doing here? How long had he been standing there, observing us? _

I am pulled out from my musings when I feel a shifting in the body on top of me and Kathryn is looking up at me with a frown on her face. I look up to be caught in two pools of azure, and the only thing that keeps me from drowning in the love they radiate, is the concern that is also evident in them.

"What's wrong? You have a furrow, right here."

She murmurs with a voice, still filled with a sleepy huskiness, while stroking me gently between my eyebrows.

"I-Chakotay was standing in your room, moments before you woke up. Why would he-?"

I felt Kathryn stiffen over her entire body, since she was still resting on me.

"What-what's the time?"

Before I could answer, she crawled over me to look at the clock she held at her nightstand.

"Damn!!"

"Kathryn?"

Kathryn slumped against me and buried her head in the crook of my neck.

"Damnit. We've overslept."

Kathryn groaned.

"You know… there's this regulation… when the Captain has still not reported for her duty half an hour after the alpha shift has started, the first officer has to check in her quarters to see whether she's there. When she isn't, he has to notify the chief of security to start a discrete investigation. When, after an hour, the Captain still hasn't been found, the rest of the crew needs to be notified and a large scale search is in order, because the Captain could be abducted or something. Our duty shifts started 45 minutes ago, Annika."

I pull Kathryn closer and kiss the top of her head.

"We will be alright, Kathryn."

After a pause, I add.

"The Commander will be, too."

This seems to put her at ease and she relaxes against my body again. Suddenly, she looks up again, vulnerability evident in her eyes.

"Annika… do you think… I mean, would you be alright if…"

I softly kiss her on her lips when she lets her sentence fade away.

"Tell me, Kathryn. I will not run, I promise."

She gives me that cute half smile I adore so much and she takes a deep breath.

"Well… it feels like half of the crew is already aware of our relationship, and we haven't gotten any negative replies except Chakotay's, so, maybe… if we were to show them that we're together, show them we're serious, go to parties together or so… maybe I'd feel less… paranoid, and I wouldn't feel like were doing something bad by hiding this? That is, if you're okay with that, of course."

I feel a happiness surge through my entire being. _Kathryn wishes to make our relationship public? Make it known that I love her, that she loves me, that we are together? _A broad smile lightens up my face and I see her nervousness dissipate as she take sin my expression.

"You're happy with that?"

"More than happy."

We smile broadly at each other and she lowers her lips to mine, kissing me lovingly, completely forgetting about the Commander who is waiting for us at the other side of the door. He is irrelevant. Every individual who has a problem with our being together is irrelevant. They will adapt, nothing can keep Kathryn and me from being together now.

And I realise I really am happy, not just with our decision, but with the entire turn of events in my life. I am happy that Kathryn severed me from the Borg. I am happy with the friends I have made on Voyager over the years, I am happy for the love that I have found in Kathryn.

And I realise that I am not alone, and that as a single, small individual I have accomplished more than the entire Borg collective together. I am capable of experiencing emotions, I have witnessed Omega, and most of all I have found perfection, in the form of this incredible woman in my arms.

TBC…


End file.
